Vancouver has the goal of being the Greenest City in the World by 2020. Local food and green economy are two of ten areas of focus for achieving the greenest city goals. Urban farming is in a unique position to contribute to both of these goals. The number of urban farms in Vancouver is increasing and these green businesses are leading the way in developing economically viable food production models for the urban environment.

With urban commercial food production being a relatively new occurrence in Vancouver, it is not accounted for in current city policy. There are a number of factors affecting urban farms’ ability to operate as legitimate businesses in Vancouver including land zoning and business licensing. This forum comes out of an interest from both the City and Urban Farmers to work together toward policies, best practices, and land-use decisions that can support urban farming practices now and into the future.

This forum will draw on policy precedents from other West Coast cities such as San Francisco, Seattle, Victoria, and Lantzville – to generate ideas for shaping Vancouver’s city policy. Each of these cities has implemented urban farming policies over the past several years and can offer a lot of insight into developing our own policies here in Vancouver.

This forum also offers the opportunity for urban farmers to share what they have to offer to the city and to discuss best practices to ensure urban farming activity is not at odds with other urban activities.

As urban farming becomes more and more prevalent in Vancouver changes to policies will be essential in ensuring the sustainability of urban farming businesses. This forum offers the opportunity for input from a wide range of stakeholders in an effort to realize those changes.